CSB Extra Special Bitter Ale

Brewery: Laughing Dog Brewery
Style: ESB
ABV: 5.50%
Country: USA, Idaho

The CSB in this case stands for "Crotch Sniffing Bastard." Pour was bright caramel brown and a bit hazy. Big off-white foam that was creamy and lingered a long time. Caramel sweet aroma with hints of honey and herbal hop notes. The first sip took me way off guard. The main flavor was tart and sour apples. This tasted more like a cider than a beer. Finish was dry with a lingering bitterness. This one was too much for me. I couldn't get into the flavor and there wasn't anything beyond the tartness. This one ended up going down the sink. :( F

Dogfish Head Shelter Pale Ale

Brewery: Dogfish Head Brewing Company
Style: Pale Ale
ABV: 5.0%
Country: USA, Delaware

Bright golden caramel color, clear and bubbly. Thin head dissipated quickly. Not much aroma, but what was there was malty and sweet. First sip revealed a rush of sweetness which was pretty good, unfortunately it was all downhill from there. A traffic jam of bad flavors followed the initial taste. The first bad taste was a buttery/soapy flavor. Second was a wheat flavor which typically isn't bad, but it was unexpected and caught me off guard. Finally, there was a burnt industrial solvent flavor that lingered a while with a slick and sticky sweet flavor that was awful. Not much bitterness and any hop flavors went unnoticed behind the unappealing flavors. I was really shocked that there was a Dogfish Head ale that I not only didn't care for, but actively disliked. My first thought was that I had gotten a bad bottle, but reading other reviews online gave me the impression that the flavors I didn't care for were not an abnormality. I don't usually pour out many beers and I never expected to pour out a Dogfish Head but that's what I did. :( F

Mikkeller Simcoe Single Hop IPA

Brewery: Mikkeller
Style: American IPA
ABV: 6.90%
Country: Denmark

The simcoe hop is a more recent hop variety that is unique to America. The wonderful Hopslam uses a large amount of simcoe when dry-hopping to help give it its wonderful flavor. With no access to Hopslam throughout the year, I was eager to find something that might act as methadone to help me make it to next January. I saw this at Whole Foods, saw simcoe in the title, and I was sold.

Poured a dark and hazy caramel color. Huge and fluffy head stayed thick the entire time. Weak aroma, was mostly yeasty. Some odd notes that I hadn't smelled before. None of the yummy pine notes that were present in the Hopslam. Quite unpleasant. Taste was equally unpleasant, more yeast and other flavors that can best be described as stale and dank. Some bitterness but I felt like I had a gym sock stuffed in my mouth. I couldn't finish this and about half of the bottle found a new home in the kitchen sink drain. The search will continue. F